If Clannad season two's ninth episode counted as a game-changing twist, then episodes ten through fifteen were an unrelenting streak of emotional devastation.
First, episode ten. The male lead landed a job, moved out of the female lead's house, and started living on his own.
Episode eleven. The male lead worked hard, but one mistake caused him to break his promise to visit the Founders' Festival with the female lead.
Episode twelve. The male lead's job performance earned him a recommendation for a better position at another company. But then something happened out of nowhere: his father got arrested.
Word of his father's actions spread through the small town, destroying the male lead's reputation. The job offer at the other company fell through.
The male lead was furious. When he and the female lead went to visit his father, he screamed at the man and stormed out.
The female lead followed him outside and found him slamming his fist into a wall in rage. She rushed over, heartbroken, and stopped him.
And then the male lead proposed.
"Nagisa, let's get married."
"Okay."
"You really mean that?"
"I've always felt like there would never be anyone else for me besides you, Tomoya."
"Even someone as useless as me?"
"I'm pretty useless too. But if we're together, we can be strong."
"Will you stay by my side?"
"Yes. I'll be with you always. No matter when, no matter how long."
...
When this episode aired, the internet went wild.
"A proposal?!"
"Hold on. Am I actually watching a bishoujo anime right now?"
"The female lead is still repeating her year! She hasn't even graduated!"
"The fact that she's willing to stay with him through all this, and even accept his proposal... that's genuinely moving."
"These recent episodes have been one bombshell after another. That bastard Shido really is back to his season one form."
"Nagisa is just the sweetest person alive. I'm so jealous that Tomoya has such a perfect girlfriend. Wait, no, she's his fiancée now lol."
"It's only episode twelve and they're already getting married? Is the rest of the story really going to be okay?"
Since this world's Clannad had no game to base things on, nobody except Yuta knew what was coming next. The worry was understandable.
But Clannad season two's surprises were far from over.
Episode thirteen. The male lead needed to ask the female lead's father for her hand. Her father knew exactly what was coming and deliberately tested the male lead with baseball. The male lead practiced relentlessly, barely scraped through the test, and finally earned her parents' blessing.
After that, the female lead got sick again.
But this time she had enough attendance days to graduate. She just could not make it to the ceremony.
So the male lead gathered his friends and asked a retired teacher for help, and together they held a private graduation ceremony just for her.
Finally, the two of them visited the male lead's father together, submitted their marriage registration, and officially became husband and wife.
Episode fourteen. The female lead moved into the male lead's apartment. The two of them started a new family.
And at the end of this episode, the female lead was pregnant.
By episode fifteen, they had even picked a name for the baby. Boy or girl, the child would be called Okazaki Ushio.
After weeks of one jaw-dropping development after another, the audience's entire understanding of Clannad had been flipped on its head.
They had thought this was a school slice-of-life anime, but the characters had already graduated. How was it still slice-of-life?
They had thought this was a bishoujo anime, but the male and female leads were married with a baby on the way. How was it still bishoujo?
The thing was, if any other anime had pulled something like this, most viewers would have dropped it ages ago. But Clannad kept delivering genuine emotional impact despite the constant upheaval.
And the graduation, the marriage, the pregnancy, all of it flowed so naturally that it did not feel like watching an anime anymore.
It felt like watching a real story about real people. As if Tomoya and Nagisa actually existed somewhere.
Praise flooded the internet.
"They graduated, got married, and have a baby coming, and somehow the story doesn't feel like it jumped the shark at all. Instead it feels more real than ever. That's incredible."
"The post-graduation story goes beyond school slice-of-life, but honestly, it feels like the whole anime leveled up in terms of depth."
"Man, I feel bad now. I shouldn't have sent him those razor blades."
"When the early episodes aired, I thought Shido had lost his edge. Looking at these latest episodes, that couldn't have been more wrong. This is way beyond season one."
"Yuta Shido. A legend in my heart, and he keeps proving it."
...
In truth, when the first few episodes of season two had aired, plenty of viewers still found them moving, but in terms of reputation, the show was not measuring up to season one.
Now the tide had completely turned. Only halfway through season two and the reviews had already surpassed season one.
As for ratings, Radiant Warriors had been banking on its second-half storyline for a comeback. Not only did that comeback never happen, the gap actually widened further. At least through episode fifteen, Radiant Warriors had not managed to close the distance by even a fraction.
On the DVD front, the first volume had gone on sale at the end of March. By the time episode fifteen aired, the second volume was nearly out.
Perhaps because there were no especially strong competitors in January besides Radiant Warriors, or perhaps thanks to the Shiraishi Award boost, Clannad season two's first volume DVD had posted first-week sales of 18,519. By the time episode fifteen aired, the total had climbed to 23,677.
That was several thousand less than season one's first volume, but given that Clannad season two had also sold several thousand less than season one in the other world, there was nothing surprising about that.
More importantly, the competition's numbers were even lower. Radiant Warriors' first volume had not even cracked eighteen thousand in its first week, coming in at just 15,265. By the time episode fifteen aired, sales had reached 19,638, still under twenty thousand.
The final tally would certainly cross twenty thousand, but based on the current trajectory, there was no way it would catch Clannad.
Of course, this was a mecha anime, and classic mecha titles had notoriously long shelf lives.
A few years down the road when the Blu-ray edition came out, Radiant Warriors' disc sales might very well overtake Clannad's. But that was years away.
By the time that happened, which show sold more probably would not matter at all to Yuta or Aoi.
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